Upcoming History events
Humanities and History PhD Showcase
4 February 2026 at 4pm in John Foster Building Room 103
The Centre for Modern and Contemporary History’s first event of the second semester 2025/2026 will be a showcase of some of the exciting PhD projects currently underway within the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. Featuring speakers from History, English and Politics & International Relations, this event will highlight the interdisciplinarity of history and history-adjacent research within HSS and provide an opportunity for staff to offer feedback to LJMU’s next generation of humanities and social sciences researchers.
Book Launch of André Keil’s Dictatorships and Authoritarianism in Modern Germany
11 February 2026 at 5.30pm in Student Life Building Room 206
Professor James Crossland in conversation with the author, Dr André Keil, about his new book on the history of dictatorships in modern Germany. Visit Eventbrite for more information.
CPMH and CMCH Seminar - Dr Jayne Friend: Destroyers and British Culture
25 March 2026 at 4pm in John Foster Building Room 106
Naval Destroyers – first developed in the late 19th century – were fast, manoeuvrable warships that captured the popular imagination of Victorian and Edwardian Britain, encapsulating the fortitude and ingenuity which contemporaries felt characterised the Royal Navy. Drawing on material from her debut book, Destroyers, Naval Culture and British Identity, Dr Jayne Friend (Britannia Royal Naval College) provides both an overview of why destroyers were so integral to the Royal Navy’s grand strategy in the decades leading up to the First World War, and how a vessel built for war became the treasured subject of news reportage, pageantry, literature, film, music and art in Britain, informing understandings of the Anglo-German arms race and First World War commemoration.
History Talks - Dr Tom Penfold
15 April 2026 at 4pm in John Foster Building Room 104
In this talk, Dr Tom Penfold will draw on Black Consciousness poetry and instances from history (from the 1970s to the post-Apartheid era) to highlight how the performance of this poetry has fed into activism in South Africa, impacting upon the country’s turbulent politics in ways seldom explored via more traditional historical analysis.
The International Association for the Study of Environment, Space and Place (IASESP) Biennial Conference
29 April to 1 May 2026
In association with the University of Southern Connecticut, the Centre for Modern and Contemporary History will be hosting this international, interdisciplinary conference at LJMU. For information, visit the IASESP website.
CPMH Mike Stammers Memorial Lecture - Dr Robb Robinson: A Forgotten Navy: Fishermen, Fishing Vessels and the Great War at Sea
6 May 2026 at 5:30pm in Museum of Liverpool
During the First World War 3,000 fishing vessels were taken into Admiralty service and 39,000 fishermen from across the country joined the RNR (Trawler Section).
Many spent over four years on the maritime front line in the grim war against mines and U-boats. They saw action all around the coasts of the British Isles and in many other maritime theatres of war.
In addition, many older fishermen continued to catch fish in these same seas in an attempt to maintain the beleaguered nation's fish supply. Although oceans of academic print have been devoted to Dreadnoughts and Jutland, until recently the vital role that fishermen played has been either underplayed or forgotten.
This lecture intends to outline something of the contribution that fishermen made to the Great War at sea.
CPMH Conference: War at Sea
16 May 2026 in The Quaker Meeting House
Commemorating 110 years since the Battle of Jutland, this is CPMH's fourth conference on the theme of War at Sea.
Book your place at the CPMH Conference
British Association for Victorian Studies (BAVS) Conference
27 to 29 July 2026
The Centre for Modern and Contemporary History, with the Centre for Port and Maritime History, are delighted to welcome BAVS delegates to Liverpool in 2026. For information, visit the BAVS Conference webpage.